Computer-controlled muscle exercising machines are widely used for muscle evaluation, training, and/or rehabilitation. During evaluation, the strength of a particular muscle is tested so that an exercise or rehabilitation program may be set up. During training or rehabilitation, the strength of a muscle is gradually improved by a programmed set of exercises.
Computer controlled exercising machines may often be configured to exercise different joints or muscles. They may also generally be programmed to exercise a particular joint or muscle according to one or more of the following types of exercise: isometric, isotonic, isokinetic and constant power. In isometric exercise, the rate of angular change or velocity of the limb is zero while the force can be in either of two directions. In isotonic exercise, the load or resistive force has constant value while the velocity varies. In isokinetic exercise the force is allowed to vary to match the user's force in such a way that the velocity is kept constant. In constant power exercise both velocity and force are allowed to vary such that their product is kept constant. Finally, computer controlled exercise machines may also be configured to provide a predetermined amount of force or velocity, over a predetermined range of motion, for a predetermined number of repetitions in a set and with predetermined rests between sets of repetitions.
Computer controlled exercise machines generally include at least one exercise element which is adapted for manipulation by a user, and a computer controller which is operationally connected to the exercise element for controlling the movement of the exercise movement upon manipulation by a user. Generally, computer controlled exercise machines also include a display connected to the controller, for assisting in configuring the machine and for providing user feedback in the form of graphical or numeric displays during the course of exercise. An input device is also generally provided to allow a user or a physical therapist to configure the machine for performing a particular exercise or sets of exercise.
One example of a highly successful computer-controlled exercise machine is the Kin-Com.RTM. Models 2 and 3 muscle testing and training systems manufactured and marketed by Chattecx Corporation, Chattanooga, Tenn. The electro-mechanical operation of the Kin-Com.RTM. Models 2 and 3 is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,711,450 to McArthur, assigned to the assignee of the present invention, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference. Other computer controlled muscle exercise machines are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,408,613 to Relyea, 4,235,437 to Ruis et al., 4,842,274 to Oosthuizen et al.; 4,691,694 to Boyd et al. and 4,601,468 to Bond et al.
A major problem in the use of computerized muscle exercising machines is the control of these machines. Although computer control provides a high degree of flexibility and adaptability, computer controlled machines are often difficult to configure and to control. This is a major problem for the typical user of a computer controlled exercising machine, who is typically unskilled in the operation of a computer. Moreover, in a physical therapy program, the machine is typically configured by a physical therapist who is responsible for administering physical therapy programs for many patients on the machine, and for configuring the machine appropriately for each patient. Physical therapists are typically unskilled in computer use, so that proper operation of the computerized muscle exercise machine is often a major concern.
In an effort to simplify the use of a computerized muscle exercising machine, these machines have often incorporated touch screen user input devices instead of or in addition to conventional keyboards. As is well known to those having skill in computer art, a touch screen is a device which is mounted on the face of a cathode ray tube or other display, and which accepts user inputs by touching an appropriate portion of the display. When using a touch screen, the computer controller may be configured to display appropriate selection boxes or areas on the touch screen. The touch screen is responsive to a finger or other object touching one of the designated areas for accepting a user response. By eliminating or reducing the need for a keyboard, simplified ("user friendly") control may be obtained.
A computerized rowing machine which may include a touch screen is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,714,244 to Kolomayets et al. A computerized exercise machine including a touch screen has also been marketed by Med-Ex Diagnostics of Canada as the Dynatrac.TM. system. In the Dynatrac.TM. system, a touch screen is used to set up exercises.
A major problem in controlling computerized muscle exercising machines is the storage and retrieval of large volumes of exercise related data. Exercise related data must be stored and retrieved in order to monitor the progress of an exercise or rehabilitation program, to calibrate the exercise machine based on past exercise, and to generate reports to doctors, insurance companies and patients.
Two examples of exercise related data are "patient data" and "protocol data". "Patient data" includes the cumulative exercises performed by a patient during the course of multiple sessions in an exercise or rehabilitation program. It will be understood by those having skill in the art that many users and/or patients typically use the exercise machine at different times. The machine must be calibrated for each user in terms of the muscle being exercised, the amount of force, degree of rotation, range of motion, type of exercise and many other parameters. Failure to correctly calibrate the machine may injure an already injured muscle. Accordingly, a given patient's data must be easily retrievable in order to configure the machine for a session. Moreover, any patient's data must be retrievable so that different patient's progress may be compared, or exercises may be set up for a new patient based upon those being used by an existing patient.
A second example of exercise related data is "protocol data". Protocol data describes a particular type of exercise for a particular type of muscle using a particular set of parameters. As described above, exercise machines may typically be configured for isometric, isotonic, isokinetic, constant power and other types of exercise. Moreover, for each particular joint or muscle, a certain range of motion, force, number of exercises and rests between exercise may be desired. These resulting permutations can create a large number of exercise "protocols" which may be used. Moreover, typically an exercise machine is used by more than one trainer or physical therapist, each of whom may have his own set of protocols which are used over and over again for patients. Accordingly, simplified retrieval of a protocol from a large number of protocols is desirable.
The computer-controlled muscle exercising machines described above have had some difficulty in manipulating large amounts of exercise related data. For example, the Kin-Com.RTM. Models 2 and 3 systems described above store exercise related data on a nonremovable magnetic disk (a "hard disk") coupled to the computer controller. Patient data for each exercise session for each user is stored using a file name arbitrarily assigned by the user, trainer, or physical therapist. The file name must be recorded separately on a paper or in a patient's folder for later retrieval of the data. Unfortunately, a file name so recorded is often lost so that the patient data is not retrievable. Moreover, for many sessions performed on many patients, it is difficult to keep track of the file names assigned for each test. Also, the same physical therapist may not always supervise the exercising of a given patient so that exercises on different days may be stored under inconsistent file names. Simple and accurate storage and retrieval of patient data is difficult.
The Kin-Com.RTM. Models 2 and 3 also allow for new protocols to be set up, stored and retrieved using an operator assigned sequential number identifier. All protocols are stored within the same file and identified by the unique sequential number identifier. It is difficult to track the large numbers of protocols typically used in a clinic. Moreover, it is difficult for a trainer or physical therapist to retrieve a previously stored protocol.
Another approach for managing large amounts of exercise related data is used by the above mentioned Dynatrac.TM. machine. In the Dynatrac.TM. machine, a disk file is not used for storing large amounts of data. Rather, exercise related data is stored on "patient data cards" each of which includes a small nonvolatile storage in which a small amount of data on up to eight patients may be stored. In order to store and retrieve data, the appropriate card is inserted into the computer controller. Unfortunately, the use of patient data cards does little to alleviate the data storage and retrieval problem. The individual cards are easily lost or the wrong card may be inserted into the machine for a given patient. The cards are expensive, and a large inventory of cards must be maintained because a limited amount of data may be stored on each card. The cards are prone to break upon repeated use. Moreover, since each card contains a limited amount of data, no standard protocols are contained on the card. Standard protocols and customized protocols cannot be set up. Rather, each exercise must be set up with its own set of parameters whereby every parameter must be set by the operator. Accordingly, a large amount of exercise related data cannot be simply stored and retrieved.